United States Government Accountability Office Washington, D.C. 20548_part1 docx

Page 1 GAO-05-603R EPA’s Management Representation Letter United States Government Accountability Office Washington, D.C. 20548 Page 1 GAO-05-603R EPA’s Management Representation Letter A July 22, 2005 Letter The Honorable Charles E. Johnson Chief Financial Officer Environmental Protection Agency The Honorable Nikki L. Tinsley Inspector General Environmental Protection Agency Subject: Financial Audit: The Environmental Protection Agency’s Fiscal Year 2004 Management Representation Letter on Its Financial Statements As you know, the Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is required to annually prepare and submit audited financial statements of the U.S. government to the President and the Congress. We are required to audit these consolidated financial statements (CFS) and report on the results of our work. 1 In connection with fulfilling our requirement to audit the fiscal year 2004 CFS, we evaluated the Department of the Treasury’s (Treasury) financial reporting procedures and related internal control over the process for compiling the CFS, including the management representation letter provided us by Treasury and OMB. Written representation letters from management, required by U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards, ordinarily confirm oral representations given to the auditor, indicate and document the continuing appropriateness of those representations, and reduce the possibility of a misunderstanding between management and the auditor. In our report, which is included in the fiscal year 2004 Financial Report of the United States Government, 2 we reported a limitation on the scope of our work due to identified concerns with the adequacy of certain federal 1 The Government Management Reform Act of 1994 has required such reporting, covering the executive branch of government, beginning with financial statements prepared for fiscal year 1997. 31 U.S.C. § 331 (e). The federal government has elected to include certain financial information on the legislative and judicial branches in the CFS as well. 2 The fiscal year 2004 Financial Report of the United States Government was completed by the Department of the Treasury on December 15, 2004, and is available through both GAO’s Web site at www.gao.gov and Treasury’s Web site at www.fms.treas.gov/fr/index.html. This is trial version www.adultpdf.com . management, required by U.S. generally accepted government auditing standards, ordinarily confirm oral representations given to the auditor, indicate and document the continuing appropriateness. representations, and reduce the possibility of a misunderstanding between management and the auditor. In our report, which is included in the fiscal year 2004 Financial Report of the United States Government, 2 . legislative and judicial branches in the CFS as well. 2 The fiscal year 2004 Financial Report of the United States Government was completed by the Department of the Treasury on December 15, 2004, and is